MTDS 1960-1975: THROUGH THE EYES OF FAB by gerald D. fabricius, Major USMC, Ret.
 
Some of you may remember knowing, serving with or hearing about Fab. Well he is me, Gerald (Jerry) D. Fabricius. A reason Fab has stuck all my life is there’s not much agreement on how to pronounce the whole thing. My wife (1954 to date) even says it “different” than do I. So I’m just Fab. In the summer of 1960, I returned to CONUS from Iwakuni where I was a SSgt (E-5, P-1) radio tech with MASS-2 (DASC) and was assigned to a maintenance billet with H&HS, 3MAW, El Toro. After trooping all around the Far East with the MASS on 4 or 5 of the Navy’s finest boats (LST’s to carrier) and a few GV’s (that’s what a C-130 was called back then), a semi non-maneuvering job was a blessing. I was second senior in a shop of 6 or 7 but the Gunny in charge was usually drunk and some times didn’t come in for days. Gunner J.J. Burron, the OIC, called me in soon after my arrival and informed me that I was really “shop chief” and he would come to me with any scoop. It was a good little shop. I knew the equipment and I had troops who were very good. I recall a couple of phone calls after I’d been there only a few weeks. One day the Gunner called and asked me to recommend 2 Marines for P-2 proficiency pay. I looked over the shop roster and decided on Cpl. Ferbie and SSgt Fabricius (E-5). That flew and increased my pay by a buck a day. A second call was from MSgt Rocky Frizoco who called me in to chew my hinder off for seeking orders out of his outfit to MACS-3. The last I knew MACS-3 was in Iwakuni across the road from MASS-2 and I wanted no part of another overseas assignment, at least not so soon. When Rocky heard that I hadn’t requested the orders, he said he would get them cancelled. Well he failed thus I was ordered to report January 1961 to MCAF (H) Santa Ana and Air FMFPac. There I was to join a soon to be constituted class on the Marine Tactical Data System. No one to whom I talked had any idea what the hell that was nor had even heard of MTDS. In a few days, I was back at El Toro walking through the door into room 111 in the ATAU Building for the 1st day of class. The room was empty except for SSgt. John Wrye who had been a classmate of mine in Radio Tech School at MCRD in 1958 and earlier at Electronic Fundamentals School in 1954 on Treasure Island in San Francisco. USMC must have decided to school us together for ever! Soon the balance of the student body filtered in. They were names some of you may remember so I’ll list those I recall: Capt. Frank Birou, Lt. Larry Thomas, CWO-2 Chuck Hoffmann, CWO-2 Tommy Crawford, CWO-2 Al Chrisman, GySgt. __?__Smith (we called him Smuff), GySgt. Dick Cordova, GySgt. Jack Hall, GySgt. Curtis Layman, GySgt. Bob Honnet, SSgt. Max Luxemberger, SSgt. John Wyre, SSgt. Fabricius and 2 L/Cpls. named Anton and Mayo. We were told we were hand picked by HQMC for this special factory school on a system still under design and not yet built. Litton Industries was to build the “machine” and was to conduct the school. In parallel, at the Van Nuys factory, another group was mustered around the engineers in various labs and offices helping ID the Marine’s needs and wants to be satisfied by this very ambitious and expensive system. That group included the newly promoted Lt.Col Ed Fris (later Lt.Gen. Fris), who was heading up this effort as well as Bill Luedke, Charlie Barnard, Bill Walls, my dear friend the late Tom Ashe, Charlie Dickson, Bob Feaker, __?__Barret and a few more I can’t recall. Our class at ATAU lasted about 6 months with Litton instructors Milan Moody and Roland Basset only able to stay a lesson or 2 a head of us hot shots so we had a number of afternoons off as the 2 of them struggled to dope out the next lesson. It was all very new to us having to first learn Boolean algebra, digital fundamentals, digital logic before we could begin to understand what the completed machine was to do, if and when it got built, delivered and tested. We trained until about Labor Day when the R & D model of MTDS was delivered to MCAF Santa Ana for testing. Until that delivery, the only time we saw the MTDS was on a several hour field trip to the factory in Van Nuys a few weeks earlier. This is also the first time we got to meet the “factory” bunch and were informed in no uncertain terms by their Staff NCOs’ that they were the select, featured and best informed experts on the MTDS even though “we” ATAU guys were the only ones who received any real formal training. Their training was mostly OJT and of coarse their qualifications were all suspect to us! We knew how it worked, they only knew where the door handles and switches were. We were, however, able to integrate our talents, to some degree, and maintenance did happen. A few months later, Litton delivered a second system and, with a detachment of MACS-3 Marines, was sent to the Marine Base at 29 Palms to extend radar coverage in that desert area and to check out the point-to-point-data-link (PPDL) features. Because of my communications maintenance background, I was shuffled to the data link area of this complex machine and was then sent to Naval Training Center, San Diego for training by Western Electric’s Bell Lab on something call the Ground-Air-Ground-Data-Terminal (GAGDT). It was there in the fall of 1961 that I met dear friend Frank Fundak then of Western Electric and later highly respected as a Litton Field Engineer on the MTDS as well as in other capacities. Field testing continued throughout 1962 and 1963. In the fall of 1962, old Fab was finally, after 3 tries, selected to attend the Marine Corps “Baby” warrant officer program so in January 1963 I trooped off to a cold Quantico, VA for the 7 week screening course after which we who survived were appointed as WO-1 and trucked across the post to The Basic School (TBS). When all this was completed, I was ordered back to CA and MACS-3 to continue with the field testing. Of coarse I was shocked that the testing seemed to continue unabated in my absence. Lt.Col. Fris, by now the CO of MACS-3 and just before he was promoted to Colonel and transferred to Naval Electronic Systems Command at HQMC, arranged for me to be assigned to the factory school in Van Nuys on the “production” model of MTDS. There in January 1964, I was to be one of 12, again hand picked, to be trained on the improved version that was based on the changes identified by the R & D field tests. I will again list the class roster for those who care. We were: Capt. Leland Anderson, CWO-2 Louis Acosta, WO-1 Fabricius, GySgt. Bill Clements, GySgt Ray Nelson, GySgt LeRoy Scwab, SSgt Tom Moscow, SSgt Dave Luchow, SSgt. Don Peal, SSgt. “Red” Clark, SSgt. John Gaunce and Sgt Al Pattet. I was the only one of this group who had any previous experience on MTDS although Bill Clements had worked the radar inputs to the MTDS unit at 29 Palms and Ray Nelson had some office experience with the program at his previous billet at the Marine Corps Equipment Board at Quantico. The rest had electronics training of some sort. The classroom work led by engineers rotating in from their lab assignments at the factory lasted a bit over 6 months after which were split up to join the engineers in the lab as the hardware was put together and individual components were tested for acceptance by DCASO out of NAV ELEX. Working with these highly skilled electronics engineers was certainly interesting as well as intimidating and challenging. This effort continued through the balance of 1964 and all of 1965. For a couple of months in the spring of 1965, we took our “machine”, designated System #1 to the Navy Environmental Lab at nearby Point Mugu, CA. There the MTDS was boiled at 140 degrees, rained upon extensively and frozen to 65 degrees below zero. You should have seen us try to uncoil and connect the interconnecting cables, of which there were many truck loads, in the 65 below conditions. The cables rolled off their reels looked much like giant coil springs. The Point Mugu personnel provided us with protective clothing like that used for a recent trip to Antarctica to aid us for our experience. In December 1965, System #1 was delivered to MACS-3 which by this time was designated Marine Corps Tactical System Support Activity (MCTSSA). We, the factory crew, joined others at Santa Ana who were undergoing transition training from the R & D model or in some cases training from scratch and together we engaged in the extensive field testing of this production model which was by now designated the AN/TYQ-2. This time the integration of the “factory crew” with the “field crew” was quite seamless. I like to think I helped some with that result which was why Lt.Col. Fris sent me up there. Throughout 1966 and beyond two efforts were under way. Litton was shipping completed systems to MACS-3 for acceptance testing. They shipped a machine about every 4 to 6 months and attached 2 factory trained field engineers to support the Marines in the field. At the same time, Marines were undergoing training for maintenance and operation and assigning these Marines to “their machine” for deployment to the Marine Corps operating forces throughout the U.S. and overseas. System # 2 was designated to be a de-hutted version for installation at training facilities in Communication-Electronics School at MCRD San Diego later to move to their new facilities on Marine Corps Base 29 Palms. (Incidentally, you veterans will remember that each field system was made up of 11 truck loads of helo-huts and 14 truck loads of connecting cables. The MTDS required 4 tow-type 40 KW generators just for the AN/TYQ-2, or TAOC (Tactical Air Operations Center). Then add up to 4 search radars, a couple of communication huts, maybe a height finder radar and power for all of that and you can recall the logistical requirements to move a MACS in those days.) I’ve by now lost track of which numbered machine went to which location but an early unit went to Camp Pendleton for extensive testing/integration and during late spring or early summer 1967 was located atop Monkey Mountain outside of DaNang in South VietNam. First Lieutenant Fabricius tried desperately, and unsuccessfully, to be part of the crew to take the MTDS to VietNam but I couldn’t make “the First Team”. Instead, I was kept at MACS-3 to receive, accept and ship out each machine as the man-machine integration was underway. I remember using just about all the C-130’s stateside to ship a system to Cherrypoint, NC in 1966. HQMC correctly decided that “air” was too expensive and asset demanding so thereafter the systems were sent by truck or rail around CONUS. My constant cry for transfer from this job was finally heard and with the subtle assistance of squadron XO, my dear friend Lt.Col.John Hedin, in August 1967 I was transferred to MCAS Beaufort, SC along with a maintenance and operation crew to establish the MTDS there in MACS-9. I was only there 3 months, in fact the system was still in transit from California, when rush orders came down from HQMC ordering me to MACS-4 on Monkey Mountain where I really wanted to be anyway. But the new CO of MACS-9, Lt.Col. Jerry Mitchell, who was a son-in-law of Lt. General R .H. Pepper, worked a deal with Col. Bob McCamey at HQ to delay my departure until at least the in transit MTDS was in place in Beaufort. The only experienced member of my maintenance crew was Gy.Sgt. Lester B. Rogers on whom I relied very heavily to accomplish this hurry up set up. In February 1968, Lester B. and the crew tossed me a going away party, presented me with an electric blanket for my Monkey Mountain bunk and off I went towards the west coast and VietNam. RosaLee and the kids were relocated to South Dakota for the duration. The trip to VietNam was somewhat eventful. USMC procedures at that time were that officers, maybe everyone, were to know airplane tail number, seat assignment, date and time of departure before deploying from the states. Well this guy was treated differently as I had put “on report” the MACS-9 S-1 officer for his mishandling of some “AA” forms so he saw to it that I got no such pre-travel arrangement. Instead I was told to report to Marine liaison on Treasure Island for further orders. In short, I spent a full week in the Marine Memorial Club on the corner of Sutter and Mason down town San Francisco (at $3.60 a day I might add) checking in to “TI” every day or so for my flight details. None were coming but I finally made enough noise to get space on a bus to Travis Air Force Base. There I had to threaten a Marine Corporal with bodily injury to get a seat on something going to the war so my overseas time clock could start. The Cpl. got me a seat on a bird going to Okinawa where I spent a few days being indoctrinated and otherwise processed for transfer to RVN. My original orders were to report to MACS-4 in MACG-28 in 1MAW so after Okinawa, my skids were somewhat greased to get where I should go. I arrived on Marine Side DaNang Air Base on 31 March 1968 where I very quickly hopped a vehicle headed for Monkey Mountain, my new home for the next 13 months. On a map, the destination was identified as Hill 647. There was only one quite narrow road winding up the steep slopes of 647. It was the result of an effort of the SEABEEs a year or so earlier and by the time I saw the road, it was pot-holed, eroded and in need of general repair. More on the road later. The “top of the Monk” was a scooped out area for barracks and Staff NCO and officer quarters quite near the top. Our Staff NCO/Officer Club was on this level also. Up a bunch of stairs, dug into a hillside, were the mess hall, CO/XO office, admin building, supply warehouse, sickbay and very large water bladder. More on the water later. Farther to the very top of Monkey mountain, the SEABEEs had bulldozed a large flat area where all the MTDS, radar, radio and power generation equipment was installed along with a number of offices, including Comm-Elect, where I had my Electronics Maintenance Office and hung my rain suit the few times I wasn’t wearing it. The CEO, Major Jon Flint, for most of the tour until relieved by Major Dick Reynolds, had a desk across the room from me and the Comm-Elect Chief was separated with a half wall. Perhaps here I can state at that time, with no exception that I can recall, every building on Monkey Mountain and most other operating bases in “I CORPS” (the Marine occupied northern 20% of South VietNam) were constructed of high grade plywood and all buildings were in even 4X8 multiples of sheets thereof. An amazing feat of engineering. And let me say here that MACS-4 was not the only tenant of Hill 647. BRAVO Battery of 2ndLAAMS was co-located on the hill with us and had approximately 50-60 officers and Marines. That number added to MACS-4’s “over staffing” meant about 450 Marines were billeted and worked on this rather confined hill top. I grew to be very good friends with the “B” Battery maintenance officer, 1st Lt. Don O. Thompson, one hell of a fine guitar picker and all around good guy. Maybe more on that later too. So when I got to the “Top of the Monk” it was full of people already, which begs the question why HQMC was so insistent to get ole Fab over there in such a hurry. The “first team” was still all there in place and we replacements were without jobs, or even bunks, for several weeks. One of the first things I remember doing after dropping my val-pac was to find Capt. Tom Ashe, the maintenance officer I was to relieve in a couple months. I found him in the OPS Hut briefing a handful of off-the-hill officers on what MACS-4 was doing “up there”. I walked in the back of the briefing room. Tom stopped in mid sentence, briskly walked to meet me explaining to his audience that he was meeting his replacement. A hand shake later Tom resumed his briefing without missing a beat, which was Tom. My billeting was a bit more cumbersome. A 3rd bunk was installed in a 2 man BOQ room and I was upper bunked in Curt Layman’s and Legs Greenberg’s room. Curt was there at the time but Legs, I recall, was in Europe on a “free” 30 day extra leave earned because he had volunteered to extend his Monkey Mountain tour for 6 months. I had no locker space in the room so for about 60 days I lived out of my val-pac, dirty clothes in one zippered side, clean in the other. Legs, being a wealthy, never been married Mustang First Lieutenant owned a TV set which was in the room and Curt and I enjoyed watching taped TV shows that were broadcast from a GI run TV station a ways down the hill from our location. Soon after my arrival, more Marines began to filter in to replace the first team, who were held, for the most part, to complete their full 13 month “combat tour” mandated by the Marine movers and shakers of the time. Most of us had no job except to get our feet on the ground but time did hang a bit heavy until the old timers finished with writing each other up for end of tour awards, turned in their flak jackets and unused weapons and hooked a lift down to the airstrip at DaNang to catch their silver war bird back home. I personally had a few sour grapes for a number of years as the first team seemed to question the collective ability of those of us selected to carry on, and maybe still do! In time they did depart and leave us new guys to fight the war from our perch on top of Monkey Mountain. Incidentally, from the patio of our club, we could see about 200 degrees of the war on clear nights which were admittedly rare. We could see Hainan Pass on our right, the Danang airfield directly below us, Ashau Valley, Elephant Valley, Marble Mountain, and the area near Chulai on the far left. Many a night we sat on the patio and saw our grunt Marines get pounded by 122 mm rockets (called flying cream cans by some), or mortars, even small arms fire exchanges. That, while in some weeks we watched 2 or 3 floor shows, mostly country-western from Korea or Australia, on our small club stage inside. The first few weeks I was there, I confess I was a bit nervous slurping my 3rd or 4th or 5th drink, watching a floor show but unable to put out of my mind there was a shooting war going on just down the hill. I was hesitant to believe those who told me that the bad guys couldn’t get to us. Soon my apprehensions were relaxed as were those of almost every one else. Security was pretty good on top of our hill. The steep hill sides were lit with large flood lights. There was strung much concertina wire mixed with claymore mines scattered strategically about. In addition, 2 man firing positions were placed maybe 30 yards apart around the perimeter which were manned during dark hours. A GySgt, Lieutenant or Warrant Officer was assigned OD each day. I was a 1st Lt. when I checked into MACS-4 as my promotion to captain was still playing catch up. As such I was assigned OD only once soon after my arrival. An experienced GySgt. John Gaunce advised this green lieutenant not to try to sneak up on the sentry position hoping to catch a “sleeper” but instead walk noisily down the middle of the road, whistling and swing my flash light to avoid any accidental “friendly” fire. I took his advice! That was our active defense scheme and most stipulated that the bad guys had no hostile aircraft to threaten us plus Indian Country was pushed back far enough by the grunt Marines so their rockets couldn’t reach us. This was all true during my 1968-69 tour so I soon learned to relax and enjoy my only USMC “combat” tour. While I was on Monkey Mountain, there was about 2 ½ highly qualified Marines for every billet. There wasn’t a drug problem (yet). The E-Club had a selection of beers as did the Staff/Officer Club and we had an ice machine that produced in quantity for our “cocktails”. Need I say morale was high, as we often were too. MTDS operations were conducted 24/7 by 4 crews a day, each for 6 hours. Each crew was under the direction of the Senior Air Director (SAD). An Air Controller earned SAD status only after a strenuious apprentice period and depended not at all on the candidates rank. So a senior captain might find himself serving under a hot shot senior 2nd Lt. A 2nd Lt. Brady L. Parker comes to mind. Brady was a bit of a rascal off watch and was passed over for promotion to 1st Lt., a rare happening indeed, but none was a better “SAD” than Brady. As Electronic Maintenance Officer, I can attest that maintenance of the equipment was accomplished too. I had an experienced, well motivated crew on each piece of equipment from OIC to “snuffy” plus a stable of civilian field engineers as backup. A word about the maintenance section on the hill with me. The T/O (Table of Organization) called for 3 5970’s (Data System Maint. Officer). We had seven. Every billet on the hill, except Comm-Elect. Officer (CEO), was filled with a 5970. Max Luxemberger, Chuck Hoffmann, Legs Greenberg covered MTDS(TAOC), Sol Contrares had TDCC, “Tennis Shoe” Tommy Reneau was Radar Maint., Curt Layman was Comm-Maint. Sid Spurgeon was Comm. Officer and old Fab, by this time an LDO Captain, was the Elect-Maint. Officer. The CEO was filled by an artillery officer named Major Jon Flint who was serving a pay back tour following his tour at PG School in Monterey. He was a fair man but knew squat about our “stuff”. Jon was my room mate in the “hooch” until he was relieved by an old friend, Major Dick Reynolds. It is quite important during a shooting war for “officers of the line” to get combat command time during the conflict. So perhaps it’s not surprising that during my 13 month tour I experienced 4 Commanding Officers. Lt.Col. Bill Cowen had relieved Conrad P. Bushman and was at the helm when I arrived in March 1968. Dave Twining, who promoted me to Captain soon after my arrival, was next followed by Ed Johns and lastly Tom Kaufman, Lt.Col.s all. Ed Johns was the only pilot in the group and he split his time flying “gooney bird” C-47 gunship missions. Major Paul Waggner was OPS O. for a while then XO for several months. He, in later life, was my MOS monitor at HQMC. Major Don Pauley was the other XO I recall. Oh and Tom Kaufman was my regular pinochle partner on movie nights during the time the movie reels were wound or changed. This is getting long and drawn out but I do want to record a few recollections. Typhoon Bess in the fall of 1968 was a big deal as it put us completely off the air for a spell as we labored to restore communications and radar coverage. The 3-D TPS-34 had lost both the vertical and slant sheets and the TPS-22, the whirling balloon antenna inside another inflated balloon was destroyed and blown about in pieces. I recall it taking most of the assets of the state-side MACS units airlifted to us to restore operations. Communications was only slightly affected and MTDS inside the helo-huts not affected at all. My Navy Commendation medal citation reads that Captain Fabricius nearly single handedly was responsible for restoring the unit’s operations. That indicates how some “end of tour’ awards are earned. Just being there is often enough! The then Major C. W. Mears, Jr. was the OPS Officer during part of my tour. Every Sunday the Mess Sgt. cooked steaks on the club patio for us. Charlie and I faithfully shared a bottle of Pino Noir with our steak, except for the week the mess sergeant traded with some admiral’s mess and we had steak and lobster on the patio. Charlie and I share August birthdates too so in August 1968 the mess sergeant baked a cake for us. That birthday I will remember always. Lt.Col. Charlie Mears, every one’s friend, later commanded MACS-1 at Yuma, AZ, a billet no LDO is supposed to fill but fill it he did and quite admirably too. We lost Charlie to cancer in February 2002. In October 1968, I took my R&R to Hawaii and met my wife, RosaLee for a week. At about the half way point of my 13 months, this was a welcome break. Operations continued mostly uneventful as MACS-4, call sign Vice Squad, controlled essentially all the friendly air in I CORPS, including the U.S. Air Force birds that were technically under control of their “Panama Center” located on another peak of Monkey Mountain a few miles distant. Air Force brass was not happy about their pilots checking in with Vice Squad and in fact one of their bird Colonels got relieved over the issue. But with our automation and IFF capability, MACS-4 could follow a sortie to and from the runway at both ends of a mission and all the way to and fro. Very comforting for the pilots to know we could precisely locate any downed aircraft throughout I CORPS. Supply support was mostly high priority. This included the efforts of a very young, green 2nd Lt. Davey Jatinen who never made the same mistake twice. Medical support was provided by excellent corpsmen that delighted in injecting us, with a very large needle, the quarterly GG shot in the posterior. A dentist even came up for a month or so to look in all the mouths. Water was all hauled up the hill from one of several water points near DaNang in water tankers operating around the clock every day. It need be said that each of the 4 CO’s directed that Monkey Mountain would NOT experience water hours which is why the tankers ran day and night. This fact was a plus also because since we were a very isolated location and motor transport was quite limited, one could usually ride shot gun and get a lift on a water truck at least off the hill maybe to the “Hill 327” or China Beach PX. About half way through my tour, the S-4, or somebody, decided to uncover and inspect the large water storage bladder. Among other things was found a very dead monkey floating in the tank with enough scratch marks on the inside walls to indicate the monkey must have been a strong determined swimmer before he drown in our drinking water supply. Beer sales soared following that discovery. The saddest event happened near the end of my tour. The command had for months tried to get some infantry support to at least augment our sentries who were standing technical watch on their electronic equipment in addition to security guard duty. After much urging, 3 grunt Marines were sent to us. One was a sergeant who had 3 purple hearts and was sent to us to get him off the line. Captain Bill Walls had arrived as my relief and we were chatting in my office when gun shots rang out seemingly from the barracks area. The shooting only lasted moments so we joined others to see what happened. The infantry sergeant was subdued by the time we got there. He had gone berserk, opened fire hitting 3 of our Marines. MSgt. Rooney had a serious stomach wound, Captain Scotty Lambreth was hit in the ribs and wrist and 1st Lt. Tom Ross was fatally shot in the head. Rooney and Scotty survived their wounds. Tom left a wife, Cathy and an infant daughter. Charlie Mears and I were tasked to ID his body in the morgue later. Tom Ross’s name is on “the wall” as are those of Major Dick Hawthorne and Major Glenn Jacks both combat pilots who had flown many missions in support of MTDS field testing back in 1963-65 in MACS-3, Santa Ana. With my relief in place, the calendar reading April 19, 1969 and my orders to MACS-5 in New River, NC in hand, I boarded my silver war bird and headed for Okinawa for debriefing and medical check up. Four days at Camp Hanson allowed me some time to hitch hike to Camp Schwab to visit some old friends working in MACS-8 which was sited there. It also gave me an opportunity to assist my temporary roommate, a new Navy lawyer, to assemble his uniform. It seems his Navy indoctrination classes didn’t include correctly attaching the rank or the lawyer device on his collar. I helped with his railroad track, Navy fashion, but on the lawyer device, I had not a clue so he just guessed on that one. After a 30 day leave in South Dakota were I rejoined my wife, daughter and son, I reported to MACS-5 and my new CO, old friend Major Herb Fix. Another old timer, Major Ernie Jarvis was the XO but except for Max Luxemberger in MTDS maintenance and Captain Bob Marinello, most of the rest were new to me. There in MACS-5 I think I enjoyed my best field tour. I was now CEO, the top dog in the maintenance end of the building and I had another great group of professional, experienced Marines. When Herb moved on, Ernie took command and Major Bob Molyneau was XO. A new friend, Captain Roger Laton was running the S-4 shop and getting experience as an air controller. Morale was high and we worked well together. We were all devastated by the news that in the summer of 1971, MACS-5 colors would move to replace Beaufort, SC MACS-9 colors which were to retire and the Marines at New River would be transferred to the winds. It was a sad time for us all. For Captain Fabricius, it was a set of orders to MCB 29 Palms and duty with Comm-Elect Schools. I asked for the assignment hoping I could influence a higher qualified graduate from the MTDS maintenance classes for the field units. However, I was initially assigned Maintenance Officer duty on the before mentioned “de-hutted” version of the MTDS with my assistant Captain Pat Webb. After a year at that, I was moved up front to be Training Officer for the 4 MTDS maintenance schools and then named Deputy Director of all electronics maintenance schools (EMS) under Director Major Ken Turck. When Ken transfer out, I was assigned as the Director EMS for the last 18 months of my Marine service with MGySgt Dick Manthey as Training Chief, and he was the best! I was promoted to LDO Major while I was EMS Director and served just over a year with that rank before I retired in August 1975. I can safely say I had negligible positive effect on improving the quality of graduates as the Marine Corps saw it essential to hire Philco-Ford for a 5 year Training Improvement Program. I’ll close this by saying Philco-Ford hired me for the 4 year balance of this contract remaining after my retirement where I worked as director of the OJT effort. I came. I saw. I enjoyed… the whole damned journey, even the experience of developing this monolog which is much longer than anticipated and perhaps too long for most readers. But this is MTDS as I remembered it was. ‘Tis said that the older we get, the better we were. In my case, this might be axiom! Fab says Semper Fi to all. BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS V2.03-15-09VII-3-15-09.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0